The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has declared that the National Assembly will collaborate with the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, to address the lack of trust in elections conducted by State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIEC). Akpabio made this statement while speaking to journalists after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the State House on Thursday.
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The Senate President’s comments come in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court judgement that affirmed the autonomy of local governments and directed that they should receive funds directly from the federation account. The ruling also deemed caretaker committees and similar arrangements illegal.
Akpabio noted that opposition parties at the state level often lack enthusiasm for local government elections due to a lack of confidence in the process. “So, it is a great thing that the Supreme Court has done the needful, and now we have to go back and think—working with the AGF office and the parliament to see how we can ensure that there’s a real election at the LG levels,” he said.
While not providing specific details on how local government elections will be improved, Akpabio maintained that the National Assembly will review the judgement and make necessary legislative adjustments to complement the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, who also attended the meeting, expressed happiness with the Supreme Court’s decision, stating that it addressed a problem that the parliament had tried to tackle for the past 20 years through constitutional amendments.
Akpabio urged state governors to respect the Supreme Court’s verdict, emphasizing that the National Assembly will work to ensure compliance. He called on all states to abide by the ruling while the legislature works on full implementation.
The low level of confidence in SIEC-conducted elections has led many to call for the transfer of local government elections to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). However, such a move would require constitutional alterations, as SIEC is a creation of the 1999 Constitution.
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